SHOOTING SETS OFF PROTESTS IN HEARNE

At least 150 people, including militant activist Quannell X came to Hearne Thursday to protest the shooting death earlier this week of a 93 year old woman.

Over 150 people in Hearne protested the shooting death of a 93-year old woman. (Photo KBTX)

Houston area activist Quannel X and a contingent of the New Black Panthers, joined community leaders and 150 others in Hearne yesterday (Thursday) to protest the police shooting death of 93-year old Pearlie Golden.

Hearne police officer Stephen Stern shot Golden to death early Tuesday evening when relatives reported she was waving a firearm and making threats. Family members say she was angry when her car keys were taken away.

Officer Stern warned Golden to put the firearm down, but she did not comply.

Stern is on administrative leave while the Texas Rangers and the Robertson County District Attorney’s office investigate the shooting.

Many protesting in downtown Hearne, Thursday don’t want to wait. One speaker at the march said “It’s time for a change.”: William Foster III said”We can’t just sit around accepting what’s going on in this town.”

Quannell X demanded that Officer Stern be terminated immediately and charged with murder. The New Black Panther Party leader says he will return to Hearne on Wednesday to meet with community leaders on what next to do.

The march proceeded from the Hearne Brookshire Brothers Store to the police station. Witnesses say the marchers numbered about 150 and while most of the marchers were African-Americans there were many whites in the group. The repeated chant was ‘what do we want? Justice.’ They also chanted ‘No Justice No Peace.’

District Attorney Coty Siegert, who will present the case to a grand jury at the completion of an investigation by the Texas Rangers, said based on the preliminary investigation, Golden was shot after being told to put the weapon down and not following the command.

2 reader comments:

If it were a white 93 year old getting shot by a black police officer, I bet quanell X would not be interested……these “activist” and “community organizers” that scream racism every time something happens is what’s wrong with this country today.

Ok maybe its just me but if a person is armed and points the weapon at a police officer who is commanding her to put it down what is going to happen the person is going to get shot. A armed 93 year old can kill someone as quickly as any other armed person who is making threats, etc. Also I guess Quannell X doesn’t understand or care about due process when it comes to demanding that the police officer be fired and indicted for murder. I bet if he was being investigated for defending imself and another person demanded that he be indicted for murder he would be screaming that his rights were being violated and that it was all because of his race. This is a tragedy for everyone involved but before the public demands a police officer loose his job and be terminated maybe it would be a good idea for the investigation to be completed. I have a funny feeling that when the Rangers get done with the investigation it will probably turn out that the officer was justified in defending himself. If Hearne fires the officer before the investigation is done and after the investigation it is detemined the shooting was justified then I think Hearne will have a major law suit on their hands for wrongfully terminating the officer.